When mice appear in a person’s home, the owners immediately begin to destroy them. And this is not surprising, since mice cause a lot of trouble for their owners. Such a neighborhood is simply useless for a person. To do this, people have come up with quite effective ways. Mousetraps are a fairly simple but effective way to control rodents. There are a lot of mousetrap designs. In this case, you need not only to place the device correctly, but also to choose the right bait so that the mouse does not refuse it.
For those who have not yet encountered this problem and do not know how to get rid of rodents, this article will help. It describes how to make a trap with your own hands and which baits are best to put in it and which ones are not worth it.
Causes of mice
Mice try to find shelter for themselves with the onset of the first cold weather. Until this moment, they felt great in the garden or in the field. When the owners have harvested the crops, the rodents have no choice but to look for places with food. Mice find warmth and food in human homes. That's why they penetrate apartments or private houses. First of all, mice appear in rooms where people store food.
They can be found everywhere: in barns, in cellars, in granaries, in storerooms, in apartments, especially in the kitchen, etc. First they end up in basements, and then rise through communications higher and higher, right up to the top floors. Some people are surprised that a mouse can appear on the top floor of a multi-story building.
To determine whether there is a risk of mice in your home, it is enough to take a short test by answering questions. A positive answer “Yes” is awarded 1 point, and a positive answer “No” is awarded 0 points.
So:
- How often are unwashed dishes left in the kitchen sink?
- How often is the dining table wiped down after meals?
- How often is the trash can emptied?
- Are bulk foods stored properly?
- How much trash and unnecessary things are there in closets?
- Is there a trash can or containers with food waste near your home?
- Is there free access to water?
- Do crumbs remain on the kitchen floor?
- Are bulk food items covered?
- Are products purchased for a long term?
- Are there holes near water supply and sewer systems and other communications?
- Are poultry and pets allowed?
Preventive measures
Mice and rats often live in basements and attics, enter homes from landfills, or move from field to home during seasonal migration. Why do some owners constantly complain about the penetration of rodents, while others practically never encounter gray pests?
To solve the question, you will have to remember the test from the first section. If there were too many “Yes” answers, you need to correct the situation. Preventing the appearance of rats and mice in your home will be successful if there are as few positive answers to the test questions as possible. There is often no escape from being close to a garbage dump, but regularly removing food waste, maintaining order in the apartment, getting rid of holes and cracks in the floor, walls, baseboards, and not filling your home with bags of cereals and flour is a feasible task.
Suitable bait for mice in a mousetrap, knowledge of the behavioral characteristics and taste preferences of cunning rodents, installation of several traps are the main measures for catching gray pests. A simple test will help you understand whether there is a risk of rats and mice settling in your home. It’s easier to keep rodents out of your apartment than to hunt dangerous “neighbors.”
Below is a video about how to make a mousetrap from improvised materials and what to use as bait:
Damage caused by mice
You shouldn't expect any benefit from the presence of mice, and here's why:
- They chew anything that contains food.
- They leave waste residues among food products.
- They are carriers of various ailments.
- Damage the insulation on the wires.
- They terrify the residents.
- Poultry eggs are stolen and damaged.
- They don't let me sleep at night.
- The home is filled with an unpleasant “mouse” smell.
Plants
The mouse is an object of hunting not only for predatory animals and birds. Nepenthes spathulata is a plant that eats mice. This plant predator belongs to the insectivorous family and grows on the islands of Sumatra and Java. It is a stem on which there are many pitcher flowers. They emit a sweet floral scent that attracts insects and small mammals. An approaching mouse is absorbed by the flower thanks to its slippery surface, due to which the rodent is no longer able to get back out.
The length of this unique plant can reach 5 m. Like owls, the plant predator swallows insects, rodents and other small animals whole. The bones, teeth and fur of the victim are digested thanks to special digestive enzymes.
What baits are best to use?
To catch a rodent, it is enough to use some, not tricky, simple but effective devices. The main task is to lure this creature. To do this, you need to know what mice love most, despite the fact that they are practically omnivores. Sometimes mice eat things that are not considered edible. For example, they chew the insulation from wires and eat foam. There are also myths that concern which bait is most attractive to mice. It is believed that mice love cheese most of all.
The most acceptable baits
The bait must have a strong, pleasant odor, otherwise the mice will ignore it. At the same time, the product should not contain chemical components that can repel mice. In addition, the product must be fresh. No rotten or semi-spoiled foods, such as fish, meat, sausage, seeds, or cereals, are in any way suitable as bait.
Sausage
Sausage, although it consists of meat, is still not very popular with mice. Rats love sausage much more.
The low popularity of sausage in the diet of mice is explained by the fact that it is stuffed with a huge amount of chemicals, and they smell it very well.
As a rule, in the home, mice always have access to all the food they can find. However, when the house is hungry, mice may not disdain a piece of smoked or raw sausage.
If you still want to use sausage when catching mice, you will have to fork out and buy a very expensive stick, but it is much easier to just use a piece of meat or lard.
Sausage contains a lot of chemicals, so it is harmful not only to the body of mice, but also to people.
TOP 7 best baits for mice in a mousetrap
There are 7 types of foods that a rodent will not refuse. For example:
Salted or smoked lard
This type of bait has been tried by many generations of people. It is desirable that it be fresh lard, with a fragrant smell. Smoked lard has similar characteristics. It is better not to use old lard, which has a very specific aroma, as it is unlikely to interest mice.
Vegetable oil
Naturally, an unrefined product with a pleasant aroma is suitable for these purposes. It is enough to take a crust of bread and moisten it with vegetable oil, and then use it for its intended purpose.
Grains and baked goods
Fresh baked goods, which include whole grains or bran, perfectly attract gray aggressors. If you moisten the crust of bread with sunflower oil, it will certainly attract pests, such as mice. The effect can be increased if the cereals are treated with rat poison.
Cold smoked fish
This product is like a magnet, attracting gray aggressors. Naturally, you need to take only a quality product. If you use rotten, unfit for consumption fish, mice will avoid such a trap.
Sausage
They also attract mice because they contain odor and taste enhancers. Despite the fact that sausages are literally stuffed with chemicals, they can serve as good bait. Of course, it is better to use homemade sausage, which does not contain chemical components.
Cheese
There is an opinion that cheese is a favorite treat of mice and rats. No one can prove this or disprove this. But cheese, in any form, and especially smoked, can serve as an excellent bait. In any case, this myth can be refuted or proven.
Raw minced meat with onions
This method is more suitable for catching rats. Of course, a mouse is unlikely to refuse such a delicacy, so such bait works flawlessly. You can add a little rat poison to the mixture of ground meat and onions so as not to upset the balance of flavors. For 10 parts of minced meat, you should take at least 2 parts of onion, but you should not take more, so as not to upset the balance of flavors.
The best bait for mice in a mousetrap
Flour products
Bread, cakes, various buns and loaves are another delicacy that mice love. Stale bread is perfect , since the teeth of these rodents grow throughout their short lives and constantly need to be ground down against something hard.
The smell of bread also plays an important role, since it is smells that mice react to. To be on the safe side, you can also soak the bread in any liquid poison or hide a piece of poison in the bread crumb. This guarantees that if suddenly the mousetrap mechanism does not work, the mouse will die at least from poisoning. And since these animals are not as smart as rats, they can fall into such a trap several times.
In addition to bread, you can also use buckwheat, rice, pearl barley and other cereals.
You can also take either a crust from the bread for the mousetrap, or make a ball, like from plasticine
Baits that won't interest mice
Although mice can sometimes eat very inedible foods, some types of food that the owner puts in a mousetrap are unlikely to interest the rodents.
It’s better not to put it in a mousetrap:
- Dried pieces of cheese.
- Apple pieces.
- Chocolate.
- Spoiled sausage.
- Old lard.
- Dried baked goods.
Dog or cat food
It is known that rural and urban rodents are very different in their preferences. They choose the food that they were used to eating in childhood and which has the highest calorie content. Often this product is cat or dog food. Lard and sausage in the apartment are securely hidden in the refrigerator, but the pet’s bowl is in the public domain. Plus, pet food smells strong. Walking past it is a real challenge for a mouse.
Recipe from the Vredstop website: 1 oatmeal cookies, 3 corn sticks, 1 teaspoon of halva, 10 peeled seeds. Crush the mixture in a mortar and use it as bait for rats and mice.
Methods for catching mice
For this purpose, a number of devices have been developed that will help to significantly reduce the population of gray pests.
For example:
- Mechanical mousetraps.
- Live traps.
- Containers and cages.
- Electric mousetraps.
The operating principle of the simplest mousetrap:
- The design of a mechanical trap includes a clamping device, a trigger mechanism and a holder. All structural elements are placed on a piece of wooden plank.
- It is best to wear gloves before setting the trap, as mice can smell a person's scent and will reject the bait.
- Before installation, you need to “charge” the mousetrap by placing one of the baits described in the article on the trigger. At the same time, you need to bait the bait so that the mouse has to make an effort to remove the bait from the hook.
- After this, the clamping mechanism is cocked, locked with a holder that is connected to the trigger. In this case, you need to make sure that the mechanism works with the slightest effort.
- In order for everything to work out quickly and correctly, it is better to practice in advance. In this case, you need to make sure that the clamp does not hit your fingers.
- Once the mousetrap is charged and cocked, it can be placed in an area where mice like to appear.
- It works as follows:
- The rodent, sensing the smell of the bait, tries to taste it, which acts on the trigger.
- After this, the holder is triggered and the clamp is released, after which it is triggered and presses the rodent.
- If a larger rodent (rat) reacts to the bait, it can easily take the mousetrap with it.
On a note! To catch mice, use lighter, wooden structures, and to catch rats, it is advisable to take a heavier, metal structure.
Traps with food
There are ready-made traps with bait inside for sale. This is a great option for those who don't want to bother with cooking it themselves. The poison only affects pests. It is absolutely safe, so accidentally eaten bait will not harm your pets.
The trap mechanism is designed in such a way that it is designed only for rodents. The bait can be changed and is suitable for reusable use. At the same time, the smell does not become less intense. The trap comes with a spare bait. Therefore, if the mouse died in a trap, having eaten all the food, you can put in a new one. Its properties remain active for a whole year.
Traps with bait do not require you to prepare the bait yourself, since it is already present there in advance
The following companies have proven themselves well:
- Swissinno;
- SuperCat.
The trap comes with detailed instructions for use. It contains information about the rules for installing and charging the trap.
Where is the best place to put a mousetrap?
Some useful tips:
- Since mice prefer to live in human homes at night, it is better to install mousetraps in the evening, and you can check them in the morning.
- It is better to install a trap next to the hole, although this is not critical.
- To be more effective, you will have to install several mousetraps in different places. Basically, mice are attracted to the kitchen, since it is where edible odors come from.
Nuts and seeds
Regular peanuts from the store, almonds, walnuts, and various seeds are also delicious food for mice. Therefore, if bags of these products are stored at home, then expect guests in these places, because... They are primarily suitable for feeding mice.
You can use peanut butter, or flavorings that can be used to soak bread or any other product with a weak odor of its own. If you want to use nuts and seeds in their pure form, you can scatter a small handful of them on or near the trigger of the trap to lure the mouse into the trap. Usually it will be enough to add only 5-6 seeds or a few nut kernels.
Nuts and seeds are very attractive to all types of rodents
DIY mousetrap
You can make several useful structures with your own hands from available, sometimes unnecessary materials. To make a trap you will need:
- Bucket with water.
- A piece of paper, a cover from a school notebook or a desk calendar.
- Lure with an attractive aroma.
How to do it:
- The bucket is filled with water to about 1/3 capacity.
- After this, the bucket is placed next to the table.
- A structure is made that resembles a paper house.
- The house is installed on the edge of the table so that one edge is on the table and the other is located above the bucket of water.
- The bait is placed on the edge of the house, which is located above the bucket.
- When the mouse tries to take the bait, it will simply fall from the table into a bucket of water.
A SIMPLE MOUSETRAP, TESTED BY TIME!
Selection of traps
In the fight against rodents, special devices are used. Let's look at how to choose a mousetrap or rat trap.
The traps have a similar mechanism of action, but differ in size. The body length of rats reaches 30 cm, which is 5-6 times the size of mice. Traps are made of wood, plastic, and metal.
The following types of products are supplied to stores:
- Mechanical (trap, snare). They are a simple design that pinches and suffocates the rodent, preventing it from getting out. The bait is placed in a mousetrap. The bait should be attractive to mice. The mechanism is triggered when the animal reaches the food.
- Electrical. The pest killer comes in the form of a plastic container with a built-in mechanism that delivers an electric shock. The bait is placed inside, the rodent climbs in for food and dies from electric shock.
- Live traps. They are made in the form of cages and boxes. After catching the pest, it is released far from home.
- Glue traps are boards with a sticky coating, once on which a mouse cannot escape.
The devices kill or leave animals alive. The device is cleaned after each use.
Homemade mousetraps are made from plastic bottles, glass jars, and buckets. Place bait (seeds, grains, flour, lard, etc.) into the container and approach the neck. The mouse ends up in a container and can't get out.
Catching a large rodent is difficult, since luring a rat into a rat trap is quite difficult. The cunning design is made from pipe scraps, and a fragrant bait is placed at the end. The tunnel is built on the principle of a swing. When an animal walks over it, the device tilts. The beast falls into a deep basin. To be safe, pour water into the container.
